While it will be a few years before sufficient data from the states is available to draw decisive conclusions as to which approach works best, early indicators suggest that the red state model is superior. The average unemployment rate in the 13 states under total Democrat control is 6.3 percent, which is 12.5 percent higher than the 5.6 percent average unemployment rate of the 24 states under unified GOP control.

The Wall Street Journal published an article on the “trade-up” strategy, which entails swapping out lackluster conservatives with new, invigorated Republicans, currently being employed by conservatives in the upcoming elections.

"Lots of people are focused on trading up at the national level, as you've seen with all the attention to Senate primaries," says Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist. "Unnoticed has been the far more successful and ongoing [Kansas-like] trade-ups at the state level." The strength of these victories, he notes, has come from local free-market groups, mainstream taxpayer associations, chambers of commerce, and national outfits likes his or Americans for Prosperity, all banding together to let voters know the state of play, and work their will.”

Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager, Mattie Duppler, appeared on Fox’s “The Willis Report,” hosted by Gerri Willis, to discuss President Obama’s proposal to increase highway funding. An excerpt from the segment is below:

The President’s plan would increase corporate income taxes on the energy producers who are already bearing the burden of all of those costs. So, all we’re going to be doing with the President’s plan is increasing the cost of energy, making it more expensive to be able to drive your car, and of course, the President’s plan still relies on those revenues. It’s a double edged sword for him- he wants to increase the cost for actually being a driver, and the people who fund these roads; but then he wants to take that money, make it more expensive through labor-contract laws, and then use it on transit programs, not even plough it back into the highways he’s pretending he needs to fix.

Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager, Mattie Duppler, appeared on Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” hosted by Neil Cavuto, to discuss a study which concluded that cursing can be emotionally and socially beneficial. An excerpt of her commentary is below:

I understand the catharsis part of it. It reminds me, though, of Dead Poet’s Society, when he says don’t use the word ‘very, it’s lazy; you’re not very tired, you’re exhausted.’ It’s kind of the same thing here, where punctuation is taking the place of language. And as you said, with kids these days, it might be having its effect.

Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager, Mattie Duppler, appeared on Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” hosted by Neil Cavuto, where she discussed how insurers are now classifying e-cigarettes as being as detrimental to your health as traditional cigarettes.

Insurers need to have a process in place where they can look at risk mitigation factors. The problem is the government’s not cooperating. The government wants to tell you that everything that could ever go on the market is harmful for you.

It was released this week that the U.S. military has prepared contingency attack plans in the case of a zombie invasion. On Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” hosted by Neil Cavuto, Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager Mattie Duppler said:

I’ve always said that conservatives have a hard time when it comes to trying to prioritize defense spending. This is a good example where everyone can hold hands, left or right, when we’re talking about getting rid of some of the junk in the D.O.D. budget.

After a Gallup poll showed that the percentage of millennials owning stock has been steadily decreasing throughout President Obama’s term, Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager, Mattie Duppler, appeared on Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” hosted by Neil Cavuto. There, she discussed the way millennials’ behavior has been influenced by Washington politics and media rhetoric.

For the first time, the entire country has been faced with the idea that the United States debt is no longer the sure bet that it used to be, with all the crises we’ve been dealing with in Washington. When we’re talking about the debt limit for the first time in years, people start to get a little bit antsy about buying those bonds anymore, and I think that millennials are responding to that.

On Fox’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” hosted by Neil Cavuto, Americans for Tax Reform government affairs manager, Mattie Duppler, responded to the emails released by Judicial Watch, which showed Democratic Sen. Carl Levin asked the IRS to investigate conservative and Tea Party organizations.

We have a member of Congress essentially directing the IRS to not only target a group, but to do what he’s saying, which is a complete breach of what we like to think of as a separation of power. This is not an IRS job to make the distinctions and the definitions. The IRS is just supposed to be investigating and making sure the rules are being upheld- this seems to go beyond that.